The birth of the airplane in the 20th century no one would have thought that the honor of inventing the first airplane in the real sense would fall to two people who had never been to college, made or repaired bicycles-wilbur wright and Orville Wright.
Born in Dayton, Ohio, the Wright brothers are the two sons of a school leader. They didn't go to college and made a living by making and repairing bicycles. The two brothers are not only very good at thinking, but also have a strong interest in flying. Wilbur wright asked the Smithsonian Museum for a large number of books and articles on flight research, including the book The Progress of Aircraft by Chanute. The Wright brothers studied flying with the money they got from making bicycles and the technology they mastered. On the basis of studying a lot of aviation theories, they first conducted research and experiments on unpowered flight. 1899 In August, the Wright brothers made their first plane-a biplane kite. On this unpowered plane, they made a major breakthrough, that is, they achieved lateral stability and lateral balance through bending and torsion.
1900, the Wright brothers made a glider with a wing length of 5. 18 meters by using the principle of wing bending and twisting, and transported it to the desolate Kildwell mountain area near the coast of North Carolina for test flight. Glider is easy to ensure landing safety, reduce air resistance and make the test flight successful. The Wright brothers not only learned a lot, but also gained confidence and decided to build a powered plane.
190 1 year, the Wright brothers manufactured and tested the second glider. Then they made a very comprehensive plan, including the plan to test the airfoil in the wind tunnel. After repeated experiments, they obtained very precious first-hand information. 1902, the Wright brothers made a third glider after repeated improvements and made nearly a thousand gliding flights. Lilienthal glided more than 2,000 times in five years, but only stayed for more than five hours. At this time, the Wright brothers' gliding test flight time greatly exceeded that of Lilienthal.
At this point, the Wright brothers glider, not only the design tends to be perfect, but also after repeated tests, has been close to the aircraft model design, and solved a lot of related problems. It can be said that a glider can become a real plane with a little modification and an engine.
The Wright brothers are not only great inventors and scholars who are willing to study, but also very shrewd businessmen. They are not completely addicted to research and invention. Although they haven't completely solved the power plant of the plane, they have absolute confidence in it. They submitted a patent application for their design in a very timely manner, which is a crucial step. Because at that time, the competition for aircraft invention had reached a white-hot stage. Pre-emptive patent application not only bought the Wright brothers time, but also paved the way for the legal ownership of the invention right of the first aircraft.
After filing a patent application, the Wright brothers devoted themselves to the development of aircraft power plant. Because the automobile internal combustion engine was just invented at that time, especially the body of the internal combustion engine was very heavy, the bosses of automobile companies were unwilling to take too much risk to manufacture aero engines. So, the Wright brothers had to do it themselves, and with the help of bicycle technician Taylor, it took six weeks to successfully manufacture the 12 horsepower piston engine. This engine has four cylinders, which are water-cooled and driven by two propeller chains. Its weight, including accessories, water and fuel, reaches 9 1 kg.
In order to reduce the weight of the plane, the Wright brothers made the fuselage, skeleton and propeller of the plane all made of light and solid fir and eucalyptus wood, and the wings were made of cotton cloth, giving up the landing gear and wheels, and made a sled under the fuselage for sliding and landing. In this way, the total weight of the aircraft does not exceed 280 kilograms.
1903 In the hot summer, the Wright brothers made the first plane and named it "Bird". 65438+ shipped to Kitty Hawk in early February. On June 12, the Wright brothers prepared for the test flight, but the weather was bad and they had to postpone it for two days. 14, the Wright brothers transported the "bird" to the launch orbit, and invited friends from the nearby Kildwell life-saving station as witnesses. At this time, the Wright brothers had an argument about one thing: who would be the first pilot to make this historic maiden voyage in human history?
After painstaking R&D and production, numerous difficult taxi tests, and the embarrassment and frustration of insufficient funds, it is now a dizzy moment of success, and none of the Wright brothers will give up the right to fly for the first time. Although they know that the first flight will take great risks, unpredictable risks will not only make them daunting, but also inspire them to fight with death. As my brother Wilbur said:
"Who wants to be absolutely safe, just sit on the wall and watch the birds fly; If someone wants to fly, they must make a machine and be familiar with it in practical experiments. "
People silently looked at the "bird" lying quietly on the track, or looked at the sky, or looked at the quarrelling Wright brothers, and no one could think of any powerful reason to convince the two masters of invention. Suddenly, I don't know who said, "since we are going to fly to heaven, let's go to heaven!" " "
"yes! Flip a coin to see what fate is like? " Someone echoed.
"I want an avatar!" My brother Wilbur said without hesitation, and my brother Orville nodded in agreement.
So the Wright brothers stared at each other like dueling warriors, and witnesses threw coins high into the air. When the coin fell to the ground, time seemed to stop and people's hearts stopped beating.
"avatar!" The witness announced with a straight face.
Wilbur's excited expression passed quickly, as if to say something to comfort his brother, but Orville's disappointment disappeared faster. He calmly extended his hand to his brother and said from the bottom of his heart, "I wish you success!" " Four hands tightly hold together.
Wilbur boarded the bird, fell in the driver's seat, and the test flight began. Maybe Wilbur was too excited. When the bird left the ground and climbed into the air, he pulled his nose too high, almost perpendicular to the ground. The plane stalled and lost lift, and suddenly crashed into the beach. The plane suffered some damage.
After two days of emergency repair, the Wright brothers repaired the "flying bird" on 16 and prepared for another test flight. The next day, 17 February 17, a day worthy of human pride, the Wright brothers began their test flight again. It's my brother Orville's turn this time. Orville learned a lesson from his brother's failure. He didn't rush to raise the nose first, and then slowly raised the nose after the plane reached a certain speed. Birds soar in the sky like eagles with wings spread. The first power plane heavier than air in human history finally took off. "Bird" flew forward 36.58 meters, flew in the air for 12 seconds and then fell to the ground.
Orville got off the plane, and his brother Wilbur came running, hugging his brother tightly and sharing the fruits of this victory. The Wright brothers made persistent efforts, Wilbur made two more test flights, and Orville took a short rest and flew again. On this day, * * * flew four times, and Wilbur got the best score, flying 260 meters for 59 seconds. This achievement has become a world-recognized record of the first free flight of an airplane.
The human dream of flying for thousands of years came true on the day of190365438+February 17, and the era of airplanes came!